New at the cabin this year: Mix-and-match Fiestaware. I am a happy camper. |
For years we stayed quite happily at
the Shoreline motel in Grand Marais, and we could happily stay there
again. But we've discovered the joys of booking ahead so we can
check ourselves into a cabin and check out from the world. One of the
perks, to my mind, is control over the breakfast factor. With these
scones formed ahead and ready to bake, I’m about 25 minutes from
rolling out of bed to a nice, home-baked breakfast.
Freezer scones
Adapted from “Happy Holidays From the Diva of Do-Ahead” by Diane Phillips. Yes, of course I own a book
called that. She called these Heavenly Blueberry Scones, for those
keeping score. In our world, they are freezer scones, a highly useful
commodity.
Ingredients
2¼ cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup dried fruit (blueberries are
swell, but other fruit like dried cranberries or cherries work too)
1½ cup heavy cream
Optional egg wash of 1 egg yolk mixed
with 1 tablespoon cream
Up to 2 tablespoons sugar for garnish
Method
Preheat the oven to 400. Line a baking
sheet with parchment. (Or, say, a 13-by-9 cake pan in this case since the cookie sheet that was here the last two years is MIA. Slightly different browning pattern, but oh well.)
Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and
salt in a large bowl. Mix in dried fruit. Gradually mix in cream with
a wooden spoon until dough comes together.
Turn onto a lightly floured board and
knead a few times. Roll out into a circle ½-inch thick. Cut into 12
wedges. (At this point you can freeze the scones in a freezer
container between layers of wax paper. Then thaw in the frig
overnight and proceed as directed.) Place on parchment paper on
baking sheet. Brush with egg wash, if desired. Then sprinkle with
sugar and bake for 17 minutes or so until golden. (I only had cream on hand, so these didn't get quite the usual effect.)
Rating:
Not one of my ultimate scone recipes (note that it contains no butter, so it
doesn’t have quite the traditional consistency or height), but very, very
serviceable. And that make-ahead thing? That’s above price. The
cranberries work, but I’m much fonder of the blueberry version,
which also seems much more North Shorish. At any rate, these are one
more reason to schlep the mega cooler north with us each year.
Don’t worry,
if you’re one of the people invited to join us on a vacation, I’ll
kick it up a notch to my usual B&B fare, but for just us kids,
this is a lovely way to greet the day and the Lake. Speaking of which, it's dark and choppy today, with a fog bank a ways out. The birch leaves are dancing to some rustic folk tune; I'm thinking Bartok. Did I mention that KSJN comes in here?
But we don't have it on right now so we can listen to the waves crash into the rocks.
No comments:
Post a Comment